 "Photo: Laura-Jane Cunningham")
Top-ranked "Rock Band" drummer Calin Scoggins has taken his interest in percussion and gaming to a whole new level, turning games into a profitable experience.
Scoggins, a political science junior, said he played Konami's "Drum Mania," similar to the drums in Harmonix's "Rock Band," at an arcade when he was in high school.
"That game actually got me interested in real drums, and after that I started taking drumline. Eventually that arcade shut down, so when I heard 'Rock Band' was coming out and that was going to be a console game, I picked it up and tried it out," Scoggins said.
Scoggins' rank online landed him a free trip to New York in September for a promotional event. SpikeTV contacted him about a special competition for the launch of "Rock Band 2." At first, it seemed hard to believe, said Scoggins.
"I was still skeptical until we all showed up at DFW Airport and got our plane tickets to New York. There were two other bands there for the launch, and we got to perform live for this tournament. Who wouldn't want to go to New York for three days to go play video games?" Scoggins said.
Three bands competed, and Scoggins' group won several prizes, including a copy of "Rock Band 2." Scoggins said band members have yet to receive their copies of the game.
Scoggins also competed at CrüeFest for a chance to meet bands and open for Motley Crüe. Scoggins' group won first place with the highest score of the entire CrüeFest tour.
"We got to go backstage for a while and we actually got to hang out with some of the guys from 6:AM and Trapt. It was pretty hilarious to go backstage and talk to a live band rocker and hear them say, 'Hey, congratulations, that looked freaking hard!'" Scoggins said.
After competing in the tournament, Scoggins opened for Motley Crüe in September at the Superpages.com Center in Dallas. Although the opening was well earned, the experience wasn't entirely rewarding, Scoggins said.
"How do you think 20,000 Motley Crüe fans are going to react to four little video game nerds on stage playing on plastic instruments? It was the best time I've had being booed off stage," Scoggins said.
Although Scoggins met members from several different bands, he said he never got to meet anyone from Motley Crüe.
Scoggins said the success was earned through plenty of practice.
"Back when 'Rock Band' first came out I pretty much exclusively played that," Scoggins said. "I wanted to get into it and be competitive at it. I used to practice drums half an hour to an hour each day before moving to UTD my freshman year. I've discovered that having an acoustic drum kit in a tiny apartment complex does not endear you to your neighbors."
Scoggins met the guitarist of his band, Robby Taylor, in a class at UTD in 2006. Taylor has since transferred to UNT.
"We get together as often as we can, which isn't a lot. I live in Denton. Our bass player, Ryan, lives in Plano, and our singer, DJ, goes to UT Tyler," Taylor said.
Taylor said distance limits the band's time together. An increase in single-instrument competitions has made also made team play less common.
Scoggins said rhythm games have become immensely popular in a short amount of time, but it remains to be seen whether the appeal sticks or is overtaken by another popular game.
"You could compare this with other fads that come and go, like 'Pokemon'," Scoggins said. "If rhythm games make a big enough impact they could earn a place in competitive gaming. Like with 'Starcraft,' which came out years ago. There are still tournaments being played worldwide," said Scoggins.
Monica Evans, assistant professor of Computer Game Design at UTD, said rhythm games like "Rock Band" already have a significant fan base and won't be disappearing any time soon.
"We're going to start seeing games that are going to teach people how to play guitar, how to sing and how to play drums," Evans said. "Eventually we're going to see it encompass all of popular music, and games like Nintendo's 'Wii Music' are letting players compose their own music."
Scoggins is currently competing online at GameBattles.com for a free trip to the Video Game Awards in Los Angeles this December.
"Right now I'm in first place on the drums ladder by a sizeable margin, and I'm not expecting that to go away anytime soon," Scoggins said.
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